Disobedience is Not an Option (Numbers 22:1-18) [2025-5-4]

All right, good morning. Once again, church family, as

you find your seats, if you would open your Bibles to the

Book of Numbers. And this morning we're going to

be in Numbers 22, one to 18, Numbers 22 one to 18.

Title of the sermon this morning is this Disobedience is not an

option. And so let's read the text.

I'll open this in a word of prayer, and then we will jump

into our sermon this morning, Numbers 22, beginning in verse

one. Then the people of Israel set

out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at

Jericho. And Balak, the son of Zippor,

saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and Moab was in

great dread of the people because they were many.

Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel, and Moab

said to the elders of Midian, This horde will now lick up all

that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field.

So Balak the son of Zippor, who was the king of Moab at the

time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, at Pithor,

which is near the river and the land of the people of Amah, to

call him, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt.

They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling

opposite me. Come now, curse this people for

me, since they are too mighty for me.

Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from

the land. For I know that he whom you

bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with

the fees for the divination in their hand.

They came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message.

And he said to them, Lodge here tonight and I will bring back

word to you as the Lord speaks to me.

So the Princess of Moab stayed with Balaam, and God came to

Balaam and said, Who are these men with you?

And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab,

has sent to me, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt

and it covers the face of the earth.

Now come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight

against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam, You shall

not go with them, you shall not curse the people, for they are

blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning

and said to the Princess of Balak, Go to your own land, for

the Lord has refused to let me go with you.

So the Princess of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, Balaam

refuses to come with us. Once again Balak sent Princess

more in number and more honorable than these, and they

came to Balaam and said to him, Thus says Balak, the son of the

poor, let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will

surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will

do. Come curse this people for me.

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, Though

Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could

not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more,

and we'll stop there. Could you pray with me, Father?

I pray as we look at this text of a Pagan king who was

determined to curse your people, and as we look at a Pagan

prophet who was seemingly determined to oblige his

request, help us to see God, that even for a man like Balaam,

he understands that when it comes to you, Almighty God,

disobedience is not an option. I pray God that you would

instill in USA a firm resolution to not disobey when we are

tempted to sin. Give us a a resolve to say to

our flesh, to the world, to Satan.

I cannot go beyond the command of the Lord.

I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

In 1933 during the Great Depression, the unemployment

rate in the United States got up to 25%.

That's one out of every four people or adults unemployed.

In April of 2020, during the peak of of COVID, the

unemployment rate peaked at 15%, but in less than two years it

had dropped to historically low levels, less than 4% now.

Currently the numbers are still low relatively speaking, but

anecdotedly I've heard multiple stories of people losing their

jobs, especially in certain sectors.

Sectors like the tech world or the government.

Many companies have hiring freezes right now where in

certain sectors it's almost impossible to get a job in that

sector. But there is one company that is

always hiring. The pay is great, it's

phenomenal. The qualifications are low and

they will take anybody. The CEO promises the world and

he delivers hell. You see, Satan comes to all of

us just as he did to Jesus. He offers us a Kingdom.

He offers us a limitless supply of riches and comfort and glory.

Limitless. And the question is, in order to

obtain whatever he is offering, is disobedience an option?

Or will we say, as Balaam said, though you were to give me a

house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command

of the Lord my God to do less or more.

Brothers and sisters, disobedience is not an option

for us. That's what the sermon is about

this morning. This morning I'm going to be

weaving exposition and application together.

And so I want to start by looking at this passage by

passage. Let's start looking at verses 1

to 3, Deuteronomy 22. Then the people of Israel set

out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at

Jericho and Balik, the son of support.

So all that Israel had done to the Amorites and Moab was in

great dread of the people because they were many.

Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel.

So our text this morning has the Israelites setting out and

camping in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, next to

Jericho. So they're on the east side of

the Jordan River, right? Israel's on the West side.

They're on the east side of the Jordan River.

Now it might be helpful to give a very brief history of who Moab

is. The Moabites descend from a man

named Moab. That's where they hit their

name. Moab was Lot's son.

If you remember, Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, had

a nephew named Lot. So Abraham, nephew Lot.

Lot has a son named Moab. And the Moabites come from Moab.

And so they are related to the Israelites, but they are not

Israelites. Now Moab had previously

controlled the area north of the Arnan River.

We looked at this a few weeks ago.

But Saihan, king of the Amorites, came in and he

conquered the Moabites and took all their land.

And so now Saihan is reigning in that area.

And we will learn in verse four that the king of Moab at this

time is Balik, son of Zappour, and he is serving as the king at

this time. And he looks as this people come

and camp next to his land, and he sees all that they did to the

Amorites. Do you remember from three weeks

ago when I preached on chapter 21?

Israel had gone to several wars. They went to war with Arad and

they defeated them. They went to war with Sahan,

king of the Amorites, and they feeded them.

They went to war with Odd, king of Bashan, and they defeated

him. And Balak gets word of this.

He hears about all these victories of this massive

people, and they're just destroying everybody and it

makes him scared. Now, why is he scared?

Remember, Sion had defeated him. Sion, king of the Amorites, came

in and defeated them. But Israel conquers Sion, and so

he thinks, if Israel can conquer my conqueror, what can they do

to me? What can they do to us?

Look at how they respond in verse three.

He says Moab was in great dread of the people because they were

many. Moab was overcome with fear of

the people of Israel. Now on one sense we might say it

makes sense why you know why he is afraid.

But in another sense, what Balak didn't realize is that God had

commanded the Israelites not to go to war with Moab.

They are not allowed to go to war with them.

Deuteronomy 29, God says do not harass Moab or contend with them

in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for

possession. Did you catch that?

In other words, Moab is afraid because they don't understand

God or his ways. What we see from this is that a

misunderstanding of the Lord and His purposes will always and

inevitably lead to a misplaced fear of God.

Not just a fear of God, a misplaced fear of God.

Just as Balak looked at the Israelites and he did not

understand who God was or whose people were causing him to fear,

Even today the Lost World does the same and they look at the

church, they look at the people of God, they look at God, they

look at the doctrine of God, they look at the word of God.

They do not understand and it causes them to fear.

You see, we always fear what we don't understand, and this fear

can cause us to feel like we need to do something, we need to

take action. That's exactly what Balak does.

Look at verse 4 to 6. Moab said to the elders of

Midian. This horde will now lick up all

that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.

So Balick the son of the poor, who was king of Moab at that

time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor at P Thor, which

is near the river and the land of the people of a mall, to call

him, saying, Behold, a people has come up out of Egypt.

They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling

opposite me. Come now, curse this people for

me, since they are two for me, perhaps I shall be able to

defeat them and drive them from the land.

For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom

you curse is cursed. So the king of Moab believes he

needs additional help, he needs reinforcements.

And so he calls up the king of Midian and says we need to join

forces. Let me loop you into the plans

of what's going on. He calls a meeting with the

elders of Midian. Again, this is a short history

lesson of who is Midian. Midian was Isaac's younger half

brother. There was a man named Midian who

is Isaac's younger half brother. He's born to Abraham's concubine

Katura. So just like Moab, Midian is

related to the Israelites, but they are not Israelites.

And look at what Moab says to the Midianite elders.

Look what he says in verse 4B. He says this horde will now lick

up all that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the

field. You see, Moab is now convinced

that they have to do something. And here's their plan.

Let's summon Balaam, the son of Bior, at Pithor.

Now who is that? We're not told much.

His name, Balaam means destruction of the people.

He is not an Israelite. He lives in Pithor, which is

near the river and the land of the people of a mall, which is

today would be northern Syria. He lives in what would be today

northern Syria. Now where he's living and where

Moab is is around a 300 to 400 mile journey.

So when he goes to summon him and he sends the elders, they

are travelling 300 to 400 miles to go get this Pagan diviner.

Now the fact that Balaam knows about him and summons him means

that Balaic knows about him and summons him means that Balaam

must have had a reputation. He must have been known in the

region as being a Pagan diviner who had success.

He must have been successful. And what, what, why did?

Why did he summon Balaam? Look what he says in verse 6.

Come now, curse this people for me.

They're too mighty for me. Perhaps I should be able to

defeat them and drive them from the land.

For I know that he who you bless is blessed, and he who you curse

is cursed. So Balak sees this mighty horde

opposite of him. He fears that they're going to

come and attack him and take over his land.

So he has this plan. Let me summon Balaam to come

curse these people. That's his plan.

I'll curse them. It's it's almost like it'll,

it'll weaken them. Now, what does it mean to curse

them? Well, it basically means to call

down the power of a deity to invoke injury or harm.

That's what it means to curse. He says come and invoke upon a

deity to invoke injury or harm upon the Israelites.

Now why does Balak want to curse them?

He gives 3 reasons. A.

He says they are too mighty for me.

B. Perhaps I should be able to

defeat them and drive them from the land.

And see, I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and whom you

curse is curse. Now, I want to be clear here.

Balic's statement is not a statement of fact.

This is how he perceives the world.

Not all that different than how people believe that karma is a

real force, right? People say, oh, that's karma.

Even Christians will sometimes say that that's karma.

Karma's not a real force. Karma is a they believe this is

how Balak perceives the world. He believes that Balaam has the

power to bless people and to curse people.

Balaam does not have any power to do this.

It's clear that Balak feels trapped and hopeless.

You see that, right? He sees this, this great horde

of people. He's already been defeated by

Cyhan, and now he thinks he's he's feeling trapped.

He feels hopeless. He thinks they're threatening

me. I'm about to lose everything.

And in this hopelessness, what does he do?

He turns to Pagan means. He turns to Pagan means.

Why? Because he's looking for

salvation. He is looking for some means of

salvation. You see, in the face of

hopelessness, the world will always turn to Pagan means.

Why? Because they're looking for

salvation. They turn to work and success

for salvation. They turn to self medication

through alcohol and prescription drugs for salvation.

They turn to adrenaline highs through extreme hobbies or

gambling for salvation. They turn to new age movements

or eastern meditation for salvation.

In the face of hopelessness, the world will always turn to Pagan

means because they're looking for salvation.

Our job, our our job, brothers and sisters, is to show them a

better way, to show them that salvation is not found in

Balaam, but in Christ. The Balaams of this world, the

Pagan means of this world will not give you salvation.

It is found in Jesus Christ. Our job is to show them that

only Christ has the power to bless.

This casino will not bless you. This yoga will not bless you.

This job will not bless you. There's only One who has the

power to bless you, and he has the power to eternally bless

you. The world is hopeless.

We are here to offer them a better hope, better than Balaam.

Look at verse 7. So the elders of Moab and the

elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their

hand and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message.

Moab's elders and Midian elders, they make the long journey, they

make the 300 to 400 mile journey to go to Balaam, but they don't

come empty handed. They come with the fees for

divination in their hand. Now 2 questions.

Number one, what is divination and #2 why are there fees?

Here's a definition of the Hebrew word for divination.

The Pagan state or process of stating or determining the

future or hidden knowledge through signs.

Omens and supernatural powers. Now in the Old Testament there

were 4 broad classes of divination #1 the position of

stars, right? They would look at the stars and

try to figure out like, who am I supposed to marry?

Where am I supposed to go? Right?

Two. Speaking with dead spirits.

This is what Saul does when he summons the Witch of Endor. 3

Examining animal parts or potsherds.

Remember when they look at a a deer's a kidney or liver and one

of the prophets, I can't remember where it is, but let me

look at this. And if it's red, it means this.

And if it's if it's purple, it means this or 4.

Casting lots for a yes or no answer.

Now God had expressly condemned divination.

Deuteronomy 1810. There shall not be found among

you anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or

interprets omens or a sorcerer. So they are not supposed.

This is this is Pagan in every sense of the word #2 Why are

there fees since they came with fees for divination?

Well, Pagan diviners are for hire.

That's what they're there for. Balaam is a for hire person.

On his LinkedIn page it says Pagan diviner for hire.

This was a also a practice that God would later condemn Micah

311 Its heads give judgment for a bribe.

Its priests teach for a price. Its prophets practice divination

for money. You see, even the Israelites

begin to do this later on. Their prophets begin to practice

divination for money. Now Balaam's practice of

divination for money will expressly be condemned by God in

the New Testament. Let me read 2 passages to you.

Balaam's mentioned multiple times in the New Testament.

Let me read 2 to you. Second Peter 215.

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.

They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who

loved gain from wrongdoing. Here's one one other Jude 11.

Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned

themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perished

in Cora's rebellion. There's a double reference to

numbers. You see, Balaam, just like

Judas, had sold his soul for money.

He put his soul for sale on the open market and he was willing

to sell it to the highest bidder.

Brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by a culture that

sells their souls for money. We, we swim in it, especially in

a place like Seattle, We swim in an ocean of people who sell

their souls for money. Peter says they have followed

the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from

wrongdoing. Now here's what I want to say.

You don't have to love gain from wrongdoing.

There are many who love gain from right doing.

There are many people, Christians included, who make it

their aim to make as much gain as they possibly can.

That's their goal in life. I want to make as much as I

possibly can. Maximise earnings, maximise

profit, maximise stock market gains, maximise real estate

gains. That's their goal.

And listen, I am all for Christians being hard workers.

I am all for Christians being financially savvy.

We should be hard workers. We should be financially savvy.

We should be wise stewards. Here's what I want to caution US

against, though. Listen to me when I say this.

Let me caution US against this. We are surrounded by a culture

that sells their souls for money and we need to be mindful of

that reality. We need to be mindful of that

reality and how we save, how we give, how we spend, how we

retire, how we travel. If we save and give and spend

and retire and travel just like the world, how do we look any

different than those who have sold their soul to get this?

There's a well known professing Christian, many of you would

know who it is, who gives financial advice and planning

for a living whose net worth is $200 million, $200 million.

And I asked myself this question, How does that look any

different than the world? How does that look any different

than the world? Can you get to a place of having

$200 million without loving gain?

Can you get there without loving it?

I don't see how 2 verses 8 to 11 And he said to them, Lodge here

tonight and I will bring back word to you as the Lord speaks

to me. So the Princess of Moab stayed

with Balaam, and God came to Balaam and said, Who are these

men with you? And Balaam said to God, Balaic,

the son of the poor king of Moab, has sent to me saying,

behold, a people has come out of Egypt and it covers the face of

the earth. Now come curse them for me.

Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.

Now verse 8 comes as a shock, doesn't it?

When I read verse 8 initially, it just comes as a shock because

Balaam doesn't immediately agree to go with them.

Did you notice that they, I mean, here comes these elders,

they like, they show up, they show up with money in their

hand. Who knows how much he is for

hire and they come and like we've travelled 300 and 400

miles to come to you. Here is we want to hire you.

And he says let me sleep on it. So spend the night.

I got an Airbnb Outback spend the night let me sleep on it.

He says lodge here tonight. I'll bring back word to you as

the Lord speaks to me. Now I want you to notice here he

uses the covenantal name of God. He doesn't use the generic

Elohim. Elohim can refer to any God.

He uses the covenantal name of God, the Lord Yahweh.

So he has some understanding of who the Israelite God is.

He is somehow acquainted with the Israelite God.

Now, Balaam is not a priest. Let's be clear about this.

He's not a priest and he does not have a relationship with

Moses. He says let me go, bring back

word from the Lord. Here's a question I had.

How is he going to approach God? He doesn't have access to the

temple. He doesn't have access to Moses.

How is he going to approach God? He won't.

He won't. God approaches him.

And God came to Balaam and said, you see, the lost world often

believes that they can call upon the Lord when they want.

It doesn't work that way. God initiates to us first.

God is the initiator. We are not told what God spoke

to him, but there are several examples of God speaking to the

lost world through dreams. So perhaps God used a similar

method. My guess is that God spoke to

him through a dream. What's interesting is that when

God comes to him, whether it's a dream or a vision or whatever,

God comes in and he asked him a question.

It's an interesting question. He says, who are these men with

you? So what does God ask that he

knows good and well? He is.

He is omniscient. We believe that God knows all

things. Why does God say, who are these

men with you? He's giving Balaam an

opportunity to examine his heart.

He's giving Balaam an opportunity to examine his

heart. Have you ever noticed that when

God initiates a conversation to people in the Bible, He almost

not, not always, but He often begins the conversation with a

question? You ever noticed that?

Where are you, Adam? Where is your brother Cain?

What are you doing here, Elijah? Do you do well to be angry?

Jonah? Who are these men with you,

Balaam? God is giving all these men an

opportunity to examine their hearts.

The same is true today, brother and sister, even right now, God

will come to us. He will come to us through His

Word, through His Spirit, through His church, and He will

ask us some pointed questions. God may be asking you some very

pointed questions even this very morning, if you have ears to

hear questions that He knows the answers to.

But He is giving us an opportunity to examine our

hearts. Why are you doing this?

You know what you're doing. Why are you doing this?

Why do you believe this is the only option?

You know there are more options than this.

Why are you believing that this is the only option?

How do you know this is God's will?

How do you know this is my will? You're so confident that it is?

How do you know what is your motive in this decision?

What is truly your motive in this decision?

See, brothers and sisters, God's questions are brake lights on

the highway. They are warning us, alerting us

to slow down and consider, is this the right way?

Is this the way that God wants me to take?

You see, the scary thing is that Balaam answers God's question,

and Balaam answers it truthfully and accurately.

So how will God respond? Look at verse 12 to 14.

God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them.

You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.

So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the Princess of

Balak, Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me

go with you. So the Princess of Moab rose and

went to Balak and said, Balaam refuses to come with us.

Now we're going to see next week what appears to be a

contradiction. Next week.

I'm, I'm really excited to teach on this because it just doesn't

make sense. And I love teaching on passages

that don't make sense. But for now, I want to highlight

something. Don't miss this.

I want to highlight God's first instruction to Balaam.

What did God say? First, you shall not go with

them. Now keep that in mind.

Tuck that away for next week, because the story is going to

take some twist and some turns, leaving us to wonder what

actually was God's will here? Was it God's will for him to go

or not go? But for now, make no mistake, it

was God's will for him not to go.

God said very clearly, unequivocally, you shall not go

with them. You see, God's will is a tricky

thing, is it not? We have God's will of

ordination, what will happen? And we have God's will of

command, what should happen. And these two wills, they are

not the same. They are distinct, but they are

often intertwined and interconnected in mysterious

ways, ways that we can't even comprehend.

Often we get ourselves into situations and we think, what

was God's will here? Had somebody asked me this

before? You know, they, they, they dated

and then they dated for like a year and they broke up.

And, and the question was, is was it God's will for us to date

or was it not? If it, if it was his will for us

today, then shouldn't we have been married?

If it wasn't his will for us today, then how do I discern

what I discerned? And does that mean I was

disobedient? We often get ourselves into

situations and we ask ourselves, what was God's will here?

What was it? Was this God's will or was that

God's will? If this was God's will, why did

that happen? If that was God's will, why did

this happen? You ever think that God, if this

was your will, why did this happen?

Next week it's we're going to look at it appears to be that it

was God's will for Balaam to go. Next week we're going to see God

tells him go and you're like, which is it?

But for now, for tomorrow, this morning, don't miss what God

said first. You shall not go with them.

I think sometimes we overcomplicate God's will.

We overcomplicate it. People ask, you know, like is is

it? Is it?

Sometimes it is as simple as this question, What did God say?

What did he say? What did he say?

Now what does your pastor say? Now what does your parents say?

Not that. What does Reddit say?

Not does what society say. What did God say?

It's that simple. You're over complicating it.

Look what God says next. He says you shall not curse the

people, for they are blessed. Notice not they will be blessed,

not they might be blessed, they are blessed.

God told Abraham in you all the families of the earth shall be

blessed. He said cursing the Israelites

is not even an option because they're already blessed.

You can't curse what's already blessed, brother and sister.

No one may curse us, for we are already blessed.

And yet even though we know that, the reality is, is that

some of us are carrying around an emotional satchel of curses.

Things that people have said to harm us, injure us, aren't we?

Do you not have an emotional satchel of things that people

have said that have hurt you, harmed you, injured you May have

come from our parents, may have come from a boss, may have come

from a former boyfriend or girlfriend.

May have come from a classmate, May come from a distant

relative, may have come from a fellow church member, may have

come from even a total stranger at the store.

These negative criticisms, these negative slander and revilements

and insults, they are spoken over us as curses.

But hear me when I say this. No one may curse us, for we are

already blessed. We're already blessed.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has

blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places. Ephesians 1/3 No matter what

human flesh says about you, this is what God says about you.

It can't be undone. The blessing of God is

irrevocable. Let people say what they want.

I know what my father has said about abelian obeys.

He does as God instructs him, but his heart is not completely

right and how he does it. He obeys as God instructs him,

but his heart is not completely right and how he does it.

He's very slight. You might have missed it if we

don't slow down and observe his wording.

You really have to like slow down and pick this up.

Look at what Balaam says. He says go to your own land for

the Lord has and here it is, Refused to let me go with you.

Did you catch that? What stood out to me is this

word refused, Refused. You know why that's important?

I looked at this Hebrew word. It's used 46 times in the Old

Testament. 45 of the 46 times it refers to man's refusal.

This is the only instance where it refers to God or it's used of

God. The overwhelming majority of

those 45 times is in the context of man being stubborn.

Pharaoh will not let them go. He refuses to let them go.

Now what does that mean? It's as if Balaam is accusing

God of being stubborn. That's what he's doing.

Balaam is accusing God of being stubborn.

Ian Dugwid, who's a commentator, a pastor as well, writes this.

So too, when Balaam said that the Lord had refused to let him

come with them, he clearly implied that he personally would

have loved to be able to oblige Balak if only the circumstances

have been different. Balaam is essentially saying to

Balak, hey, tell your king I would love to come.

I would love to come. Curse his people like I'm free,

my calendar's free. But he refuses to let me go.

Brother and sister, be careful that we do not subconsciously

accuse God of being stubborn. I was talking to somebody the

other day who had somebody who had lost their job.

They have, they have actually changed jobs four to five times

in the past four to five years. And they, this is what they

said. Really God, really, you see what

is, what's behind that heart that says really God, here's

what it is. There's an implication that God

needs to get with the program and give them a job.

That God is just being stubborn here.

That God, you gave me a job and then I lost and you gave me a

job and I lost. And God, just like he's just

being stubborn. You see, we can all be guilty of

this, people. You hear it in phrases, right?

Well, God just won't let me have this.

He knows I want to be married. He just won't give it to me.

He's just being stopper. God's just not going to answer

this prayer. He knows I need healing.

I've been praying for it. I've been praying for this job.

I've been praying for this, you know, whatever.

And God's, I mean, he's just not going to answer this prayer.

You know, he just keeps giving me trials.

God, I've had, I mean, I've had enough trials like another,

really another haven't had. It's in these kind of

statements, you know what we're doing when we say that kind of

thing. We're subconsciously accusing

God of being stubborn. We're subconsciously saying,

God, stop being so stubborn. We're suggesting that God's will

needs to bend to our desires, rather than praying that God

would bend our desires to His will.

Now what's interesting is that when the elders of Moab go back

to the king, they make no mention of the Lord.

When they go back, what do they say?

They don't say that the Lord refuses.

They say who Balaam refuses. They don't even mention the Lord

at all. God doesn't even factor into

their equation. They simply say Balaam refuses.

There's a word again. That's one of the 45 times

Balaam refuses to come with us. They assume the decision lies

with Balaam, that is his decision and that Balaam is

being stubborn here. Look at verse 15 to 17.

Once again Balak sent Princess more in number and more

honourable than these, and they came to Balaam and said to him.

Thus says Balak, the son of the poor, let nothing hinder you

from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honour and

whatever you say to me I will do.

Come curse this people for me. Balak assumes that Balaam's

refusal. You know what he thinks he's

just negotiating. That's why he he refused.

You never accept their first offer.

We all know that he came and game, you know, an amount and,

and, and Balaam is like, no, no, no, I can't come, sorry, I can't

do it. And he's like, I got you.

I he's negotiating. So what does he do?

He sends more Princess, more Princess and more honourable or

more distinguished than the first.

The text doesn't say this, but implied in that statement is he

UPS the payment, he sweetens the offer, he offers him more money,

more honor. And look at what Balick said.

Balick said let nothing hinder you from coming to me.

Nothing which includes the Lord. Notice Balick doesn't even

mention the Lord. In his mind, it doesn't matter

if it's his wife, it's his health, it's his religion, it's

his previous commitments, it's his reluctance to travel.

He says let nothing hinder you from coming to me and look at

what he offers. He says I will surely do you

great honour. Whatever you say to me, I will

do. In other words, here's here's

how we would say it today. Name your price, Name your

price. Name your price.

It's yours. Who does that sound like?

Brothers and sisters, it is the voice of Satan that whispers to

us. Let nothing hinder you from

coming to me. Satan will come to us and he

will say name your price. What will it take for me to have

you? How much?

What do you want me to do for you?

And here's here's the thing. Just like Balak, he won't take

no for an answer. He'll sweeten the offer.

Oh, it it's not money you're looking for.

Oh, OK. What?

Well, what is it? Oh, a relationship.

Got it. Satan will say to us, let

nothing hinder you from coming to me.

Do you hear it? Do you?

Do you hear that when you're tempted with sin that Satan is

saying to you, What will it take for me to have you?

And do you hear the voice of our Savior whispering in the other

year, saying to you, What does it profit you to gain the whole

world and to forfeit your soul? What is it profit you if you

gain marriage but you forfeit your soul?

What does it profit you if you gain that 6 figure salary that

you want so badly, but you forfeit your soul doing it?

What does it profit you to finally gain the approval of

your family, but to forfeit your soul and doing it?

What does it profit you to finally gain that retirement

where you can travel the world and eat buffets for the rest of

your life? If you forfeit your soul,

brothers and sisters, what does it profit Balaam to gain all the

riches of Moab and forfeit his soul?

Because that's what he did. Balaam is not in heaven.

He forfeited his soul. And here's the thing, Balak

says. I I just need you to do one

thing. Just know that Balak's not

saying, look, when I hire you like we're going to make a

contract, you're going to be like my professional cursor for

the next 10 years. I want you to like he says,

look, just come one time and make one.

Curse one thing and think about it.

Think you'll have all the riches?

Everything that we have Moab has, It'll all be yours.

Just do this one thing. That's what Satan does, doesn't

he? Right.

Just just just compromise in this one way and it'll all be

yours. You can make a compromise once.

It's just one thing. We are all sinners, none of us

are perfect. Just compromise once and and

think about what you'll get. Look at what Balaam says in

verse 18. But Balaam answered and said to

the service of Balak, though Balak were to give me his house

full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the

Lord my God to do less or more. Balaam says, listen, if you were

to give me all of the King's treasury, your whole house full

of silver and gold, I was wondering how much gold does the

United States government have? United States government has

over $700 billion of gold. Can you imagine if we had a

king? We don't have a king, but you

imagine if we did had a king and he offered you $700 billion to

just do one thing. I mean, all you got to do is

walk over and say you are cursed, thank you very much.

That's it. You.

Would you do it? Would you do it?

What would you do for $700 billion?

Balaam says. Even if you were to give it all

to me, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord to do less

or do more. Now I want to point out one

thing about this phrase. When he says Lord my God, that

might, you might read that and it might raise the question

well, was he a worshipper of God or not?

He calls him the Lord my God. Was he a true prophet of God or

was he a false prophet or not? The fact that Balaam calls him

the Lord my God means nothing. Nothing Jesus said on the day of

judgement. Many, many will say to me, Lord,

Lord, did we not prophecy in your name?

And did we not cast out many demons in your name?

And did we not do many money wonders and works in your name?

And he says, I will turn to you and say, depart from me, you

workers of evil. I don't know you talk is cheap.

Balaam saying the Lord my God means nothing.

Balaam simply understands as Satan does, how things work with

an almighty God. You see, Satan would say the

same thing if a demon came to Satan and said Satan do this and

he says I can't do anything unless God allows me.

And Balaam is saying the same thing.

I cannot go beyond the command of the Lord.

Balaam understands that he is not allowed to transgress the

command of the Lord. And I love that he says less or

more because it covers sins of omission and it covers sins of

Commission. Meaning if God tells me to speak

and open my mouth, I cannot decide not to speak, I have to

speak. And if God tells me not to

speak, I cannot decide to speak. I have to be silent.

Brothers and sisters, disobedience is not an option

for us. I am not suggesting that we

don't sin. We will sin.

We'll go out of this place and within an hour we'll sin.

But I am saying that disobedience is not an option

for us. How easy it would have been for

Balaam to think, Lord, just let me have this this one time.

Just let me get this one. Like, like God, I just need to

pronounce one curse right. I do this one time and then I'll

be a rich man. Let me pronounce one curse and I

can go away a rich man. Yes you can.

A rich man straight on his way to hell.

Disobedience is not an option the next time.

And this will happen maybe as early as today, probably today.

The next time that Satan comes to you and he dangles that

carrot in front of you and says just indulge.

It's OK, we're all sinners. Just indulge.

I want to encourage you to look at him and say back to him, by

the power of the Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ.

The same thing that Balaam, a false prophet, says, I cannot go

beyond the command of the Lord my God to do more or to do less.

Disobedience is not an option for me.

Let's pray.